This application claims the priority of Japanese Patent Applications Nos. 6-99266, 6-99267 and 6-99268 filed in Apr. 12, 1994.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electronic endoscope apparatus, and more specifically, to an electronic endoscope apparatus arranged such that an imaging unit can be separated from an endoscope main body in a body cavity.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is known an electronic endoscope apparatus for observing an image in an observing subject by a charge coupled device (CCD) as a solid imaging device, and in the electronic endoscope apparatus a diseased part of a body cavity such as a digestive tract and the like is observed and treated by inserting an electronic endscope into an observing subject. The inserting portion of the electronic endoscope is composed of a distal end portion on which the CCD is mounted, an angle portion which can bent in the upward, downward, right and left directions by operating an operating unit and a soft portion, and the distal end portion can be bent to a desired position by the angle portion.
However, the above electronic endoscope apparatus has a problem that since an observing subject is observed within a range regulated by the bending angle of the angle portion, there arises a range which cannot be observed. That is, it is difficult to bend the front surface of the distal end portion toward the backside of an inserting direction and for example, a projection such as a polyp cannot be observed from the backside thereof. Further, the conventional apparatus is arranged such that the positional relationship between an observing direction of a CCD and a direction toward which a treating tool is taken out from a treating tool inserting channel cannot be changed. When a diseased part is to be treated, however, the part is often treated more easily when the positional relationship between the observing direction and the treating tool taking-out direction is changed, and it is convenient if a diseased part can be observed from any arbitrary direction other than a treating direction.
Incidentally, it is contemplated to put a capsule-shaped micromachine with an observing unit alone into a patient through his or her mouth to realize unrestricted observation. However, when the micromachine is used alone, it must be moved to a diseased part by driving means provided with the apparatus itself while making use of the function of an organism and a problem arises in that the movement of the apparatus is not easy.